In a pretty surprising move, Jason Varitek reached out to the Red Sox, asking for a meeting, WITHOUT SATAN, to discuss his interest in returning to the Red Sox. ‘Tek met with principal owner John Henry for about 90 minutes on Friday night near his home in Atlanta. While none of the details were released, ‘Tek did say that the meeting “went OK” and that he DID want to return to the Sox.

The fact that he did this without Boras is very telling–but I think that everyone is aware the Sox are not super happy with him over the Mark Toxemia nonsense, plus the fact that it was his recommendation (probably) to refuse the offer of arbitration, blowing sunshine that Varitek was actually going to GET Jorge Posada money, when arbitration would have been the best thing for Jason, guaranteeing him no less than what he made in 2008….

But now it appears that the Sox are completely in control. And I do think they will make him an offer, but it will either be a 1 year deal at around $3-4 million, with the ubiquitous incentives, or a 2-year, $6-7 million, again with incentives. But I doubt its going to be any better that–and that fact that it’s even that much is only because of who he is, and what he has meant to the Sox…

And ‘Tek will have to either suck it up and take the deal, or risk get MUCH less (in money and playing time) with another team–or nothing at all….

But THANKFULLY, Greg Zaun signed with the Oreos for 1 year, $1.5 million. So we won’t have to deal with HIM…..

Looks like Gabe Kapler found another home–he signed with the Tampa Bay Rays, and will probably be their starting center fielder for a while, as BJ Upton has shoulder surgery, and will be out for a while…

It was bound to happen sooner or later–A member of the Red Sox Organization, albeit a minor league, received a 50 game suspension for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Christopher De La Rosa, an outfielder who most recently played in the Dominican Summer League Red Sox, tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol…

Its hard for me to believe that it will be 3 years in May that I have been writing Boston Red Thoughts. When NEPABlogs approached me about writing a blog about the Boston Red Sox, I thought it would be a fun thing to do once in a while. Never in a million years did I think of all the really neat things I would get to do (review everything from books to video games) or the amazing people I would get to meet (Red Sox Dad, The Mighty Quinn, Laura–Just look at my blog roll…) I even experienced my very own Night Listenertype thing. (And I hope she gets the helps she needs…)

So, thanks so much to everyone who has contributed, both in small and not so small ways, to Boston Red Thoughts–and here is to 600 more posts!

Coming up: SO interested to see what happens with the Jason Varitek situation…